Ockham's Mark Todd, Mayor Wayne Brown and Ockham architect Tania Wong at The Greenhouse opening in Ponsonby on Friday. Photo / Michael Craig
Mayor Wayne Brown this morning opened Ockham Residential’s 19th apartment building, Ponsonby’s 101-unit The Greenhouse, which has been clad in 150,000 Italian-made bricks in what developer Mark Todd says is a homage to Tāmaki Makaurau’s lush landscapes, particularly our western ranges.
The building at 20 Williamson Ave is on the Pollen St corner, opposite Woolworths and the publishing business Stuff, a block down from Ponsonby Rd.
Todd, wearing a green T-shirt, said 21 units in the block remained unsold.
The Greenhouse is Ockham’s flagship building “nurtured through years of planning and construction”.
Todd told about 100 guests gathered in a ground-level area that the building was steeped in classical design and he thanked the Italians who had hand-made the bricks.
Last year, the development business headed by Todd expected to open the block around November to early December.
It’s now February and still not entirely finished on upper levels, particularly the penthouse.
Each brick cost $11, indicating a $1.7 million bill for that cladding. The bricks were fired by Sant’Anselmo brick company from Venuto, northern Italy near Venice, and Todd said he had nine on his desk before he chose.
Ockham architect Tania Wong said the green from the Waitākere Ranges was particularly inspiring and the new building’s arches reflected those in many surrounding buildings.
Brown said The Greenhouse was “a positive thing for the city, it’s a positive thing for the area”. He praised what he called the sheer passion and enthusiasm of Ockham, particularly Todd and architect Tania Wong.
“The first thing I look for is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is a great thing,” Brown said, also citing the hard-working crew who built The Greenhouse through the pandemic, extreme weather events and construction price rises.
Ockham’s buildings are “architecturally fantastic,” Brown said.
Apartment buildings like The Greenhouse brought more people to live in the city, which had all the infrastructure needed to function well, Brown said, contrasting that with far-flung areas being developed but with extremely costly infrastructure.
“We we’re not careful, we’ll have to subsidise that stuff,” Brown said, referring to developments at Drury, South Auckland.
An Ockham pricelist showed a two-bedroom, 70sq m level-three unit sold for $1.7m. A one-bedroom and one-flexiroom 61sq m place went for $1.55m.
A level six 61sq m place with one bedroom and one flexiroom sold for $1.65m.
Many units are in the 42sq m to 47sq m size range. Many level seven units are sold but no price is declared on them.
Ockham chief executive William Deihl was the MC at the event attended by Sir Bob and Barbara Harvey, councillors Richard Hills and Julie Fairey and former Real Estate Institute chief executive Helen O’Sullivan, now chief executive of Valocity Nexus.
Artwork in the lifts is by Fiona Kerr Gedson: Four panels are adorned with tiny feathers from peacocks, turkeys and pheasants.
The Greenhouse is very different to many other new Ockham developments - it has five levels of ground-level and underground car parking accessed off Pollen St.
All up, The Greenhouse has 63 car parks on those five levels, each with an electric charger and storage lockers.
Todd and his family will live in the penthouse on the top two floors of The Greenhouse, giving them panoramic city views and large floor areas.
They already live in the Ponsonby area but plan to move around April or May once their floors are fully fitted out.
Many other Ockham buildings have no car parks.
Todd has emphasised the importance of residents’ access to public transport and said apartments didn’t need car parks if they were well-located and allowed people to use buses or trains.
A former chief executive of a national organisation who didn’t want to be named has bought one of the upper-level apartments of The Greenhouse. That person expressed delight with the new place today, as guests toured inside the sixth-floor, two-bedroom apartment with a north-facing deck and full-height wine cooler alongside the fridge.
Also at today’s opening was Shane Brealey, managing director of Simplicity Living, which is building hundreds of new build-to-rent apartments in Auckland. Brealey said he and Todd are friends and share information, indicating a strong alliance which benefits each business.
In July, Todd showed the Herald Aalto in Morningside, a block without car parks but with bike storage and a bike lift.
Daisy at the city end of Dominion Rd also has no car parks.
Ockham’s decision to build blocks with few or no car parks has ruffled feathers, residents complaining their streets soon become jammed up with cars from the new blocks.
In June 2022, Ockham opened The Nix, its 14th building, which was sold to an investment business. The 32-unit block also has no car parks.
Todd joined Resident Properties’ director Greg Reidy to open that six-level industrial-style red brick at 6 Nixon St opposite Giltrap premises on Great North Rd, a block from Karangahape Rd.
“It’s not a problem having no car parks,” said Reidy.
No parks were needed because the block was so close to the CBD, the new City Rail Link and on major bus routes, he said at the time.
In 2021, Ockham and its iwi partner opened a 541-unit block at Waterview. A shining bright orange reflective copper waharoa [entrance gate] marks pedestrian access off Great North Rd to Kōkihi, the new 95-apartment project by the Ockham-Marutūāhu Partnership.
That was at the time the second building by the Pākehā/Māori collaboration.
Buildings Ockham has developed and sold in Auckland are:
1. The Ockham Building, 25 units, Kingsland
2. Wilkinson House (see below)
3. The Wamaka Buildings, 18 units, Ellerslie
4. The Isaac, 75 units, Grey Lynn
5. The Turing, 27 units, Grey Lynn
6. Station R, 37 units, Mt Eden
7. Hypatia, 61 units, Newmarket
8. Daisy, 33 units, Mt Eden
9. Bernoulli Gardens, 120 units, Hobsonville
10. Set Buildings, 72 units, Avondale
11. Tuatahi, 119 units, Mt Albert
12. Modal, 32 units, Mt Albert
13. Kōkihi, 95 units, Waterview
14. The Nix, 32 units, Grey Lynn
15. Koa Flats, 14 units, Meadowbank
16. Aroha, 117 units, Avondale
17. Aalto 39 units, Morningside
18. Manaaki, 210 units, Onehunga
19. The Greenhouse, 101 units, Ponsonby
Ockham has a number of other sites in the city yet to be developed.
Late last year, it repaid deposits and cancelled The Feynman, a 165-unit project planned for 339-359 Great North Rd.
It is also starting the multibillion-dollar Maungārongo beside Unitec and the old Carrington Hospital with its iwi partner.
Around 20 per cent of units at the new 210-unit Manaaki, Onehunga, are still to be sold. That equates to around 45 apartments.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
'Some people can’t remember anyone in their family owning a home.'